When researching the effects of colonization on Native American tribes, professor Carol Ellick knew just where to look: Aboriginal Australia, and specifically, the University of Wollongong, located in New South Wales, Australia.

Phone calls were made, details were negotiated, and the College of Arts and Sciences Native American Studies Department organized an exchange program for students from OU and UOW.

Following more than 170 years of controversy, the final remains of one of Australia’s greatest Aboriginal leaders, the Noongar chieftain, Yagan, was laid to rest during a traditional ceremony in Western Australia on Saturday.

The native leader, who was killed in 1833 whilst leading the resistance against the British colonisation of Western Australia, was posthumously decapitated and his head, along with a portion of skin from his back, was sent to England for display at a British museum.